Ten Years On
by sarahlizzie
Summary: What I thought should have happened. It's ten years later and Firelord Zuko pines after his wife and his aging uncle. Meanwhile, and unexpected visitor shows up at the South Pole. ZukoxKatara, SokkaxAzula. Rated T for potentially upsetting content.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Sorry if this needs to change when new episodes air. It's not particularly funny, but there is some depressing stuff, like death. Yipee!

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters in this story. (Except Lea, she's mine :-)

Chapter 1 – What About The Others?

Zuko's good eye leaked tears.

It wasn't often that Zuko found himself crying: only once or twice as a child, and a few times as he stepped into adulthood. Now, as an adult, he thought it shameful.

Since Ozai died, things had become hard for Zuko. Azula had run away to God knows where, the pressure on him to produce heirs became increasingly heavy, and Iroh had become more and more solitary, so much so that he could only be seen extending his hand past the boundaries of his bedroom door just far enough to reach the pot of tea his servant had left for him.

The only thing that made being the Firelord worthwhile was his wife. She made it seem as though all his problems never existed, and when he was with her, he didn't want to leave. Her cool, gentle touch calmed him and quenched the burning flame inside him. When he was with her, he was a different person: a calm, relaxed and compassionate person, not the angry, stressed and temperamental person he was when he was attempting to run the country. In Zuko's opinion, she was amazing. But now, when he needed her, she was somewhere else.

To keep his mind off things, Zuko thought of what she must be doing now. She was off volunteering to be a nurse in the Earth Kingdom. When she had suggested it he said it was a stupid idea, but she had said I need to help these people, and he said yes, fine, it was the right thing to do. When she left, he felt like his heart had been smashed up into tiny pieces. They shared one last kiss, and then she was gone. He wondered if he would ever see her again, but he did not cry. He just kept it bottled up. She was probably healing wounds and injuries (like she had offered to heal mine, he thought), tending the sick (like she had attempted to do to my father as he lay on his deathbed, he thought), and burying those who hadn't been so lucky (not that she herself had had to do that before, but it was still nice to think about her, nonetheless, he thought.).

He sat up on his bed. Tears still trickled out of his right eye, but he felt a bit better. His brain was still jumbled and confused; he had so many questions, only one of which he could answer right now. He slowly lifted himself off his bed and opened his door. The journey down the corridor was a long one, and Zuko began to get restless, but then he realised that he didn't actually want it to end. Eventually, it did. He raised his arm and knocked three sharp, loud knocks on his uncle's door.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – I Miss You Quite Terribly…

"Ok, breathe in…and out. In…and out. Fantastic. You're almost done. Just one more session tomorrow and you'll be all set. See you!" Katara waved goodbye to the last patient of the day. At last, she thought. Boy, smiling all day made your mouth hurt. She ambled back to her cabin and gazed at the wall opposite the door as she came in. "Only thirty eight more days until I see you again, baby," she said to herself as she crossed off another day on her makeshift calendar.

Earth Kingdom hospitals were dull, in her opinion. After you've spent two months at a place, it does begin to get dull, she reasoned. Not for the first time she wondered if coming here was the right thing to do. Zuko was going through a hard enough time as it was, without his wife being halfway across the world. Anyway, she missed him: his warm skin; his dark, messy hair; his fingers hardened from years of firebending. Her heart panged when she thought of him.

She had thought about him many times as she spent time in the Earth Kingdom, but never had she felt so guilty before.

She remembered when Ozai died: he had been in bed for weeks with headaches, fever and a cough, but Katara had never expected it to be so serious. Only when he developed a loss of appetite and dramatic weight loss did she know that something had to be done. Katara was nervous, it seemed, because she could not heal him when she moved the cool water across his chest. She tried everything she could, but it was futile, because he died mere hours later. Zuko must be so lonely, she thought. She suddenly realized that where she belonged was not where she was. She belonged back in the Fire Nation, next to her husband, comforting him, filling the hole in his heart.

She began to pack her bags.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Brother of the Father

"Who is it?" snapped Iroh, knowing full well who it was. Who else but his nephew would bother him at this time? For a fleeting moment, he considered Zuko's situation, and felt sorry for him. This feeling quickly vanished, though.

"It's Zuko," came the muffled reply from behind the door.

"Come in," grumbled Iroh, "If you must…" a sliver of light inched itself into the dark room. "What do you want?"

"I just…want to talk to you," Zuko said quietly as he stepped into the room.

"Oh! Your breath stinks! You have been drinking!"

"Have not!"

Iroh looked sternly at him.

"Ok, I have."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Ice and Inconstancy

Azula woke with a start. It must have been the cold, she thought. "Pull it together, Azula. You're a princess. You can handle a bit of ice."

'A bit of ice' was an understatement. The South Pole WAS ice. The houses were ice; the walls were ice; even the toilet seats were ice. Azula shuddered as she thought of it.

Azula had come here after her brother married the water tribe girl. After just two days of their kissy faces and sugary sweet pet names, she had to do something. It's not as if she had anything to distract her. Ty Lee had left a few months back to live with her new boyfriend (it didn't last long, she found a new one in a matter of hours), and Mai had tried to kill herself the day before the wedding and had been moved off to the local mental hospital, so she didn't even have anyone to boss around. She stole old clothes from the water girl's closet and came to the last safe place on earth where she knew her brother would never look.

The people were nice, in her opinion, but boring. They didn't even have any waterbenders, nobody to properly protect their village. Well, apart from that pony-tail boy that used to trail around with the Avatar. He really was a truly fantastic warrior: strong, able and handsome. She was surprised he wasn't married. His square jaw smiled at her daily and his blue eyes twinkled in the cold sunshine. Whenever he looked at her, though, he had that look on his face when you know you've seen someone before, but you don't know where. Azula knew that her time here was to be short-lived.

On her way to breakfast, she noticed another familiar face. Another familiar body. "Another of the Avatar's old cronies," she whined to herself, "What, is it like a reunion or something?"

Toph squeezed Sokka with all her might, despite the ice on his coat.

"I missed you!" she said into the frosty fur at his neck.

"Me too! I…" He paused, "Toph, aren't your feet cold?"

"Heck, yeah!" she began a strange little dance on the snow, "I can't see anything either, don't you have any earth down here?" Sokka laughed, grasped her arm and led her into the breakfast room.

"Ooh, fun! Competition!" Azula whispered to herself as her fingers crackled. A small girl who had heard her hushed exclamation looked at her strangely. Azula walked on.

After her morning meal, as she prepared to go sit in a tent with ten other women and sew things, Azula noticed something strange on the other side of the village wall. After she checked no-one was watching, her nimble toes carried her swiftly over the cliff of snow. There was a raft there, with a girl on it. She was wearing the remnants of a green dress, a familiar green dress. Azula pushed this thought to the back of her mind as she tenderly tapped the girl on her shoulder. She jumped up. "Where am I?" the girl asked.

"Um…the South Pole," Azula replied as the girl pulled herself sleepily to a stand.

"The South…the South Pole. The South…Pole! Is Sokka here?"

Oh, boy. Not another one, Azula thought, rolling her eyes. The girl scrambled up the snowy bank and out of sight. Azula followed at her tail and grabbed her shoulder just as she reached the bottom of the wall.

"Stop!"

"Why?"

"Well…um…you see…Sokka's…um…"

"Dead?"

"No, no, no. He's um…"

"While you think about it, I'm going to go…" She turned towards one of the tents, and then retraced her steps. She studied Azula's face, and then said, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"No," Azula turned away, "I've never seen you before in my life."

"Oh, Ok," She said, and began to run off towards one of the tents. Azula opened her mouth to protest, but then gave up and followed at a safe distance.

Walking into the tent, she saw Sokka standing by the central area, in a heated discussion with the other tribe leaders. She got there just in time to see the green-robed girl sprint up to Sokka, hug him quickly, then plant her lips on his.

The whole room fell silent.

Suki opened her eyes; lips still glued to Sokka's, and looked around at the shocked faces. She pulled away and a voice came from the crowd: "What? What happened?" Toph pushed her way through the crowd to stand at Sokka's side.

"Nothing," came the reply from Suki's general direction, "I just kissed Sokka…"

"WHAT?!" Toph yelled, deafening the entire room, "You kissed my boyfriend?!"

There was an awkward pause, and the silence of the room was thick like treacle.

"Wait a second, Toph; I never said you were my girlfriend." Sokka explained calmly.

"What?"

"I already have a girlfriend," he called outside the tent, "Honey! Could you come here?"

A few seconds later, a tall slender body stepped into the room.

"Hi," said Ty Lee.

After the commotion had died down and the men got back to their work, Azula grabbed Ty Lee's arm and pulled her to the side, behind a tent. Ty Lee, who had not seen Azula, was shocked.

"Azula! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Well, this is the new boyfriend I told you about in the letter. Nice, isn't he?"

"That's not the point, Ty Lee. The point is…I need you to do something for me. Could you go back to my palace…the one on the southern coast of the Fire Nation… and…um…get my old lightning bending scroll?" Azula paused, "Please?"

"Oh my gosh! You said 'please'! Something must be wrong."

"There is. You know Sokka…"

"Yes," she interrupted, "Very well."

"I did not need to know that, thank you. No, it's…I like him too."

"Oh, that's understandable. But you know what?"

Azula cocked her head to the side as if to say, 'What?'

Ty Lee's expression changed instantly: "HE'S MINE."

Upon saying this, Ty Lee grabbed Azula's shoulders and hurled her into the courtyard behind her. The girls wrestled for a moment and Azula's fingers began to tingle. About to strike, Azula remembered that she couldn't use her most powerful weapon. If she did, she would be found out. These people had only just started to trust her, an outsider, and she didn't want to lose that trust.

The girls did not stop fighting when Sokka, Toph, Suki and some other men stepped out of the tent behind them.

"Ooh, a fistfight! How fun! What's the argument?" said Toph, excitement in her blind eyes.

"We're…fighting…over…urgh…Sokka!" Ty Lee grunted as she continued to fight. Sokka's face immediately perked up.

"Sounds perfect. I'm getting a part of this." Toph collapsed a metal pot from inside a tent. Brown soup sloshed onto the clean snow as the pot whizzed out of the tent. Azula and Ty Lee shrieked.

Suki took a step into the area where the girls were fighting. "I do but keep the peace," she said and cautiously tiptoed forward.

Toph paused for a moment and said "Peace? I hate the word!" She then pulled Suki's sleeve, dragged her into the midst of the battle and continued fighting. Despite the screams and the occasional yelp, Sokka's smile grew wider.

After a few minutes, the sky began to grow dark. The girls didn't even pause to watch the full moon rise. The girls didn't even pause to see the full moon talk.

"What are you fighting about?" said the girl in the moon, in a faraway voice.

"They're fighting over me…" Sokka, still smiling, said as if in a daydream. He shook himself out of his trance. "Yue?"

"Of course. Do you know anyone else who's the moon?" Yue floated down to the place where the girls continued to fight. Her eyebrow twitched and she closed her fist, and a stream of water zipped out of the ocean and hit Ty Lee on the back of the neck. She crumpled and fell.

"Don't worry, she's not dead," the dreamy voice whispered in Sokka's ear. With this, and a brush on the cheek, his face melted into a lovesick smile.

The girls didn't notice when dark, full rain clouds began to form above them. They only stopped to see the thin blue strands of lightning come from the sky. Ty Lee, who by now had gotten up, looked at Azula sceptically. Azula said out of the corner of her mouth, so that only Ty Lee could hear her: "I swear, it's not me!"

The lightning drew closer and the villagers began to get scared. Many ran into their tents and peeped out from the flaps at the front. Even the other girls hid in the shadows and the moon spirit disappeared. One small girl was left on the ice, and no one came to claim her. The lightning drew so close Azula could see the powerful sparks dancing around in the bolt. Time slowed down to an almost unbearable speed. Azula raised her arms and pointed two fingers at the lightning.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – You What?

"What's the matter?" Zuko asked in a slightly less than calm voice. "I mean…er…why won't you come out and, like, be part of the family?"

"Do you really want to know why?"

"Why else would I ask?" Zuko began to get frustrated. Suddenly Iroh's hard face melted into a scrunched-up mess. Tears began to pour out of his eyes.

"You big baby," Zuko growled, but as he watched his uncle bawl, his own tears began to sting his eyes again. He tried to blink them back, but it was no use. He whispered, "Just…tell me what's wrong."

"Fine, I will," Iroh said as he choked back tears.

He paused.

"I'm dying."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Love Him, But Whom?

Katara was lost.

It wasn't any wonder, really. She had sneaked out of the hospital grounds with nothing except her bag of clothes, in the dead of night, in a strange country, without a map. She had subsequently used the bag of clothes to distract a platypus-bear who had attacked her. She simply kept trudging along in a dark, unfamiliar forest, using the stars as a compass.

"Walking stinks!" Katara yelled into the darkness. She had a sudden déga vu. She remembered her childhood days, and the young boy…

She shook this thought from her head as tears began to slowly trickle out of her eyes. She was tired, and found a place to sleep. She pulled off her cloak and used it as a blanket. She tried to fall asleep, but she couldn't. She could only think of the boy, and his extraordinary talent…

So young...

"Shake yourself out of it, Katara, it's been ten years!"

But I loved him, came the reply from her conscience.

Katara cried herself to sleep, knowing her brain was right. Her dreams were filled with necklaces, fortune-tellers and fire.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – There's a Million Leas…

"You're dying?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Iroh, still sobbing, turned over and wept into his pillow. Suddenly, the door opened and light flooded the room, blinding Zuko. A servant poked his head round the door.

"Sorry, Your Fieryness, sir." He bowed low. "Is there anything I can get you?" The young servant, who had just started last week, seemed very nervous.

Zuko opened his mouth to say 'no', but Iroh said, "A pot of Ginseng, please." Zuko looked at Iroh, a scowl on his face. "What, you know that's my favourite!" They both chuckled through their swollen eyes and wet faces.

Neither spoke while they waited for their drink.

The new servant, this time remembering his manners and knocking, peered around the door. Slowly and steadily, he placed the tray on the floor just inside the door, as if in an attempt not to show his shaking arms. Iroh murmured a quick 'thank you' and the servant gave a relieved smile and shuffled out of the room, which then returned to darkness. Iroh waited until he could no longer hear the servant's footsteps to get the tray. Zuko and his uncle sipped their tea in blackness and silence. All of a sudden, a high-pitched, piercing noise rang through the palace and cut through the silence like a sword through soft flesh. The palace inventors had installed a new system, the 'Fire Alarm', because they thought it would be useful, and your safety is of utmost importance, Your Fieryness, they said. The noise was terrifying, and Zuko and Iroh sprinted out of the bedroom and followed the source. Their ears led them to Zuko's sister's bedroom.

Lea was fifteen years old, born just before Ursa had been banished. She wasn't particularly good at firebending, and did not appear to have any of the characteristics typical of Zuko's family tree. When Zuko slammed open the door he saw a ruined tapestry and a lot of smoke.

"Oh my gosh Zuko I'm really sorry I ruined your tapestry well what happened you see was I was practising my firebending and you know I'm not very good at that anyway and sneezed and it went everywhere and I'm really sorry and the tapestry's the main casualty but that pot over there is a little singed and those candles are kinda melted…are you crying?"

"No, well, I was, but anyway tell me about the tapestry."

She did.

"…well I'm really sorry but the bottom of it just sort of caught on fire when I sneezed and…"

Zuko interrupted. "It's fine Lea. It was in your bedroom, therefore it's your tapestry. It doesn't matter. You don't need to apologize to me." His voice faltered.

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes I'm fine!" He growled. "Just clear up the mess – I'll get a servant to help you – and no more firebending in your room. Do it outside, if you must."

"No, wait, you're upset, I can tell."

Lea, in an amazing way, was brilliant at sorting out problems. She was just like Ursa in that way. In fact she was just like Ursa in many ways. She looked exactly like her, but not at all like Ozai.

Zuko looked at Iroh as if to ask him: "Should I tell her?"

Iroh nodded.

"He's…he's sick."

"Oh no! Is it bad?"

"Well…"

Iroh grasped Zuko's shoulder and gripped it, as if to tell him to stop.

"…no."

"Oh, ok. Well, get better soon, Uncle." She began to walk towards the door, "I'm just going to go get a broom," she said and skipped off into the bright hallway.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – Truth and Throat-cutting

The blue lightning danced dangerously close to the village. The little girl was petrified with fear, unable to move. Azula, however, stood firm.

Suddenly, the bolt shot out straight towards the two people. Azula caught it, and felt it move into her. For a moment, she was the queen of the world. The blue energy went through her stomach, and out through her other arm. The lightning left her and shot out into the black sky. The villagers came out of their tents and stared. Few had seen Azula bend the lightning, but the only one who mattered did. Sokka, sword in hand, rushed out and charged at Azula.

"YOU!" Sokka yelled in her face, his sword to her neck. "What are you doing here?"

Sokka was then surprised to see Azula burst into tears. He loosened his grip.

"Careful, Sokka! It'll be a trap!" Ty Lee yelled at him.

"It's not, I promise," Azula said in between sobs, as Sokka gripped his sword again. "The truth is, I love you."

For a split second, Sokka's blue eyes softened as he looked into Azula's gold ones, but this calm expression turned instantly to anger.

"How DARE you!" Sokka let go of Azula's collar and threw her to the ground, but still held his sword tightly. "You just come here and expect to be treated like one of us, after all you put us through, after what you did to Aang?"

Azula couldn't answer. She just fell to the floor, shaking with sobs.

"Cry all you want, I will NEVER forgive you!"

Azula stayed on the ground, not speaking. Sokka left, signifying the end of the conversation. The rest of the villagers left to go back to their jobs, leaving Azula weeping on the ground on her own. Only one person stayed behind: the little girl whom Azula had saved.

"It's ok," she said. "Don't cry."

Azula looked up and gazed into the eyes of the little child. Gold met blue and each seemed to understand the other.

"Thank you for saving my life."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – Baby's Coming Back

Katara woke up with a sore back to a balmy dawn. Having nothing to carry, she swung her cloak over her shoulders and trudged on. The forest seemed endless: constantly repeating itself. After what seemed like hours, Katara reached the sea. Finally, a place where she could let loose and be herself. She bent some water, removing the salt, into her mouth. After resting and bathing, she prepared for her journey. She made a rickety raft and set off across the endless ocean under the midday sun. Zuko did it after the siege of the north, she thought, if he can do it, then I can.

Katara floated for hour after lonely hour, bending the water every so often to keep her moving. She could only tell the directing she was travelling by the faint, almost full moon. She did not sleep for most of the night, because the stars were a valuable compass.

After two days of this drudgery, Katara spotted land. Feeling a sudden burst of energy, she bent her way to the Great Gates of Azulon. Recognising her and her dishevelled state, the guards let her in and called for a jet ski to pick her up. All of this felt like a dream to Katara, who had wasted all her energy bending. She was escorted then to the Palace city, and finally, home. She entered the palace and was instantly hit by a flying, furry cannonball. It winded her and nearly knocked her over. "Hi, Momo," she chuckled, "It's good to be home."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – Past Meets A Princess

As he slept in his tent, Sokka wondered if he had done the right thing. He had made Azula sleep outside that night and he would deal with her in the morning. He thought about it, but he could not find a good reason why he should forgive her: she had attacked and imprisoned Suki, she had made his sister's husband's life a misery, and she had killed Aang. There was no incentive for him to forgive her at all.

But what if she did repent? If she said she loved him, then perhaps she was finally sorry for everything she had done. He knew she was a good actress, but she had really seemed upset earlier. Sokka's brain began to hurt with wondering, and from the confusion he fished out a memory from when Hakoda was on his deathbed:

"_Sokka" _he had said_, "promise me one thing."_

"_What, dad? Anything."_

"_Always forgive people, no matter what. In a troubled world, you'll need as many friends as you can get."_

"_Ok, dad, whatever you say. I promise I will."_

This gave him his answer. Careful not to wake Ty Lee, who was snoozing next to him, Sokka slipped out of the tent and into the freezing night. He spotted Azula sleeping near the village wall and crept, silently, towards her. Azula's eyes snapped open as soon as he stepped within a few yards of her. She leapt up and stood poised.

"What do you want?" She stood defensively and ready to strike, "Haven't you humiliated me enough?" She did not cry this time, but her makeup was still smudged from earlier.

"Shh, no. I just wanted to say I'm sorry, and I realise that I should have forgiven you." Azula relaxed her defensive stance.

"What?"

"Just…don't say anything," he stepped closer and kissed her. It wasn't just a peck, or one of those meaningless quick ones: it was a warm, proper, gentle one that really meant something. After they separated, Azula breathed a quick, 'wow', and they stood and watched the sea roll.

"What should I do about Ty Lee? How am I going to tell her that I'm with you now?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. I've been planning that moment ever since I knew she was your girlfriend."

"Oh, ok. It's good to know that I've finally found someone who knows what they're doing." He chuckled, "don't tell Suki I said that!"

"I feel a bit faint, can we sit down?" She gazed up at the sky, "It must be the full moon. I always feel weaker during the full moon."

"Yeah, of course," they sat on the wall. "Well, because I'm Water Tribe, it means, theoretically, I'm stronger with the moon and a that stuff," he laughed, "I complete you!" They both laughed.

"You know, you're not as evil as you seem."

"No?"

"No."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 – Nodding The Truth

"Lea! So good to see you again," Katara spoke to her sister-in-law as she came into the dining room, "Has anything big happened since I left?"

"Well, I learned how to do that trick with the firebending…here, I'll show you…!" She stood up.

"No, Lea, that's fine. Show me some other time." Katara had nearly avoided disaster. Lea sat down at her place.

"Oh, ok," She paused to take a bite of her meal, "Oh, yeah, Uncle Iroh's sick."

Zuko, who until now had simply stared at his food, looked up and caught Katara's eye. He gave her a look that he hoped said that there was more to it than that. Katara, who could pick up the subtlest look or change of mood in someone's face, understood. Lea continued to chat about her latest mishap or firebending accident. Katara and Zuko attempted to have an entire conversation of just looks:

It's more than that.

What's really happening?

He's, well…

Yes?

At this point, Zuko just put his down his head and stared at his untouched food.

Katara tried to catch his eye again.

"…and the tapestry just caught on fire and that wasn't the only thing, the vase was burned too…what are you guys doing?"

Zuko and Katara both looked up, and then at Lea. "Nothing," they both said in unison.

"There's definitely something wrong. You can't hide it from me forever. I'm fifteen and I can figure it out."

"Well, if you're going to be so determined, I might as well tell you."

Another look from Katara: Will it upset her?

I know what I'm doing, said Zuko.

"Uncle's not just sick, he's, um," He paused, "He's going to die, Lea."

Katara gasped and Lea's face froze.

"Oh my God. Is there anything we can do?"

"I've already called a physician, and I was hoping you could do something, Katara."

"Oh, of course. Should I go now?"

"No, no. You can finish your meal."

"I've lost my appetite." Katara pushed away her plate.

"Me too." Lea stared into her half-eaten meal.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 – Smoking Slightly

The next morning, many of the villagers woke up to see Ty Lee, dishevelled and angry, storming out of the village.

"Oh, but we can't let her freeze!" Sokka said, hesitating and wondering if he should follow after her. He stepped away from Azula, but she grabbed his arm and said:

"Don't worry, I'll handle this." She signalled to the others to stand out of the way, and then bent an angry fireball, aimed at Ty Lee's tailbone. She managed to dodge out of the way, just in time, but the back of her dress, when she turned awkwardly to look at it, was smoking slightly.

The other members of the village couldn't see why their tribe leader was in love with a _firebender_, and to be honest, neither could Sokka. Why was he doing this?

She had killed Aang.

He kept repeating this simple phrase to himself, but it refused to penetrate. He couldn't comprehend that this was the same person. He couldn't comprehend that this person, who was now chatting with the little children in the village, was the same person as the person who, ten years ago, was ruthless and deadly, not valuing human life, and doing anything to get what she wanted. The same person who had killed his best friend.

Sokka had an argument with himself in his brain:

Maybe she's changed…

Can a person change so much…?

Why not? Look at Zuko. He changed in just a few months…

Yes, but Azula had always been much worse than Zuko…

Which is why it's taken her ten years…

But she killed Aang…

And so it went on…

He walked slowly up to Azula, who was playing a dice game with some of the older children. Tapping her on the shoulder, he choked on: "Honey?"

"Yes?"

"I'm going to go lay down," he smiled at the children, "will you be ok with these guys?"

"Oh, of course," she said, beaming at them. "We're having fun, aren't we?"

She was answered by a chorus of 'Yes's.

Sokka stumbled back to his tent, watched by a concerned, but wary Azula.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – Healing, the Ultimate Guide

"Yes?" Iroh shouted from inside his bedroom.

"It's Katara, can I come in?"

"Yes," he said, standing up and unlocking his door. Dirty plates littered his floor, and light from the hallway poured in and showed Iroh just how dirty it was.

"Hi," she said, coming in to the room and bringing a torch with her, "I heard."

"Oh." He sat down heavily on his bed, sighing deeply.

"Can I help?" she sat down next to him. She touched his arm, but he shrugged it off.

"Is there even any point?"

"It can't hurt, can it?"

"No, but I'm not expecting it to do much good either. You couldn't heal my brother, what makes you think you can heal me?"

Tears came to Katara's eyes, and she stood up again, offended. In the dull gloom, he saw her tear up, and said: "You can try, if you really want to."

She smiled back at him, turning around. She pulled out her water pouch and bent some water out of it. The cool water surrounded her hands, covering them like gloves and seeming to glow in the soft light. "Where does it hurt?"

"Around my lower back. Do you want me to…erm…take off my shirt?"

"If you would."

Iroh pulled off his red shirt, revealing toned muscles. Katara was, quite frankly, impressed. Even locked up in his room, with a fatal illness, he had managed to keep his figure.

After he had turned around, she placed her hands on his back, letting the cool water slide around on his back. His chi was horribly twisted, and there was a huge knot in the small of his back. She was not nervous this time; she knew she could do it. She tried to loosen the knot, and it did begin to soften up, but only slightly. She kept moving the water over his strong back for what must have been at least a quarter of an hour. She only stopped when his back began to shake with sobs.

Bending the water back into her pouch, she put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm afraid that's all I can do for today. It seems to be helping, though. I'll come back tomorrow and see what I can do." He nodded, showing he understood. "Look on the bright side," she stooped down to pick up his discarded shirt, "It _is _getting better, and I'm not as nervous this time," she smiled as his tears subsided. She took the torch out of its holder and slipped out of the room, being careful not to let too much light in. She smiled at him as she left, saying, "Don't worry."

He sat in the darkness, still worrying.


End file.
